Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I purchased Ambaji last November from a reptile show, not knowing a whole lot about senegals. (that was a bad move, however i wanted something smaller than veilds)...she laid 85 eggs 4 days after i brought her home. Luckily, i noticed her laying behavior and gave her a spot to lay her eggs.

I culled 35 of the eggs first thing because i knew i had no facility to keep them. All in all 27 hatched. Unfortunately....one hatched out 2 weeks before the others, and began to bully the others. They were dying, and i kept trying to change what i thought would stop them from dying off, but in the end it was the first one that hatched. I have that one left and one more who is a bit smaller.

Anyway, Ambaji has been acting strange lately. She has slowed down quite abit. I thought that maybe it was due to the expiration of her UVB bulb, but i changed that and upped the watts. The temp in her tank (which is a reptarium 68g tall) ranges from room temp (75) to 85-90 on the basking end. She has slowed down quite a bit and seems to sit in one spot all day. She hasnt been all too interested in food lately either. I have seen her hunt a little, but i havent caught her eating at all.

I mist her down once a day (the reptile room is small and it stays fairly humid) and i give her a dripper every other day. She drinks well from that.

Her tank is planted with pothos and a ficus....all without pesticides. And she has plenty of branches and vines.

She looked like she was gravid for a month or so (i understand that females will do that twice a year) but all of a sudden one day i noticed that she was thinner and i found no eggs.

She is supplemented with Sandfire cham dust and 2.0 reptical 2x weekly.

any ideas will be appreciated. I am wondering if maybe she is about to shed...she seems dull....i may just be worrying. thanks for reading, jen
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"Brains for dinner, brains for lunch. Brains for breakfast, brains for brunch. Brains for every single meal; why can't we have some GUTS?"-Misfits

1.0 ball python- Azazel
0.0.1 Yellow phase ATB- Devilin Hisseyes
0.4 leos- Boji, Sanjae, Fae, Azra
1.1.5 crested geckos- Jubeh and Inari and the babies
1.1 gargoyle geckos- Acacia, and Osiris
0.0.1 flying gecko- Malarchie
1.0 leucistic texas ratsnake-Ojo
0.1 albino kenyan sand boa- Akasha
1.1 whites tree frogs- Sifaka and Eikon
0.1 Transpecos ratsnake- Cleo
0.1.2 Senegal chameleons- Ambaji and the hatchlings
1.0 Ruthven's X Thaeri king- Kemushi
0.2 pacific parrolets- Mishka and Kya
1.1 cats- Cairo and Oberon
1.0 crown tail betta- Lazarus
1.0 Husband (hes my favorite, but i dont let the 'kids' know that. )

First off, I haven't kept Senegals so I'm not familiar with their behavior or annual cycle. A couple of general ideas for you that may not help much but might give you some things to follow up on.

As she successfully laid that huge clutch so long ago it isn't likely that she has retained an egg. She's had good care in your hands, so unless anything in the room or her diet has changed its hard to pinpoint something. I don't know if Senegals retain sperm, but possibly she's working on a second clutch from a prior mating. I assume she was wc? Most likely, so you won't know her age or previous egg laying history.

If she's drinking and her coloration is basically normal (no stress spotting or dark color) she may just go through a seasonal slow down. Many chams do. As she's not actively mating or gravid that you know of, maybe the amount of dusting you are doing is a bit too much. Maybe she's bored with her current foods...maybe try something different such as silkworms. Often chams perk up and get interested in green or flying insects like houseflies.

thanks for the info. The vendors SAID she was captive bred...but it was at a show, so who knows, the vendor was a bit dicey. The temp has gone up a bit in the reptile room, so i think she is getting dehydrated a bit easier..she hates fountains so its manual spraying and drippers for her.

It could be a seasonal thing too..she was active all winter. I will lay off of the dusting ...maybe once a week. I gave her a new UV light and she looks a bit better.

I tried some yellow spotted roaches for her, but i dont think she was so ok with them, so at the next reptile show i will pick up some horn worms or silkies..good plan. Much thanks! j
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"Brains for dinner, brains for lunch. Brains for breakfast, brains for brunch. Brains for every single meal; why can't we have some GUTS?"-Misfits

1.0 ball python- Azazel
0.0.1 Yellow phase ATB- Devilin Hisseyes
0.4 leos- Boji, Sanjae, Fae, Azra
1.1.5 crested geckos- Jubeh and Inari and the babies
1.1 gargoyle geckos- Acacia, and Osiris
0.0.1 flying gecko- Malarchie
1.0 leucistic texas ratsnake-Ojo
0.1 albino kenyan sand boa- Akasha
1.1 whites tree frogs- Sifaka and Eikon
0.1 Transpecos ratsnake- Cleo
0.1.2 Senegal chameleons- Ambaji and the hatchlings
1.0 Ruthven's X Thaeri king- Kemushi
0.2 pacific parrolets- Mishka and Kya
1.1 cats- Cairo and Oberon
1.0 crown tail betta- Lazarus
1.0 Husband (hes my favorite, but i dont let the 'kids' know that. )

I'd be very surprised if any Senegal at a show was cb. They come from a fairly broad range in the wild so knowing exactly what climate she is from is almost impossible. Anyway, she's lucky she found you and laid that huge clutch safely! I don't find fountains are much use for chams. They don't raise the cage humidity all that well, need constant cleaning, and frankly look weird. Foggers and spraying for humidity work better and add a dripper for direct drinking. Some chams stop using drippers for unknown reasons even if they used to drink from them. I lost my first veiled that way. He used the dripper well when he was a juvie and I was living in a fairly humid house. But, he stopped drinking directly from the dripper at about 1 year old. I had moved into a house with central AC too. I didn't realize how dry it was (cheapo pet store analog humidity gauge) it until he ended up with an impaction due to long term low level dehydration. It seems so stupid looking back on it now.

You said..."She is supplemented with Sandfire cham dust and 2.0 reptical 2x weekly"...do you mean reptocal or Rep-cal? Look at the containers and tell me if they both have preformed vitamin A (palmitate, acetate, retinol, etc.). Also do they both have D3? Phosphorous? Calcium?

What is the brand and type (spiral, compact, long linear tube, etc.) UVB light did you buy?

They need to drink a lot of water....has she slowed down on the drinking lately?

Did you have a fecal done on her?

BTW...I doubt that she's CB too.

it is rep-cal...2.0 no phos.
I'm using a coil 10.0 and a 75 watt basking for a 68 gal reptarium. I think the previous post was right on. We are running an ac in the bedroom and the reptile room is right off of that. It has been dehumidifing the room...ive noticed it in my ATB, and the baby chams too. I have been keeping the door closed and misting 2X daily. She drinks well from a dripper so i have been making sure she is more hydrated than before. She is deficating more, and today she is looking better. The humidity is what was causing the problems...her skin started getting folds, and thats when i realized she needed more humidity.

She is doing much better now, and i have realized my mistake. Thanks for the advice! It is much appreciated and it probably has saved ambaji's life!

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"Brains for dinner, brains for lunch. Brains for breakfast, brains for brunch. Brains for every single meal; why can't we have some GUTS?"-Misfits

1.0 ball python- Azazel
0.0.1 Yellow phase ATB- Devilin Hisseyes
0.4 leos- Boji, Sanjae, Fae, Azra
1.1.5 crested geckos- Jubeh and Inari and the babies
1.1 gargoyle geckos- Acacia, and Osiris
0.0.1 flying gecko- Malarchie
1.0 leucistic texas ratsnake-Ojo
0.1 albino kenyan sand boa- Akasha
1.1 whites tree frogs- Sifaka and Eikon
0.1 Transpecos ratsnake- Cleo
0.1.2 Senegal chameleons- Ambaji and the hatchlings
1.0 Ruthven's X Thaeri king- Kemushi
0.2 pacific parrolets- Mishka and Kya
1.1 cats- Cairo and Oberon
1.0 crown tail betta- Lazarus
1.0 Husband (hes my favorite, but i dont let the 'kids' know that. )

BTW, she is getting D3 in the calcium too.
I am careful about over supplementing...learned that lesson long ago. Thanks again
-----
"Brains for dinner, brains for lunch. Brains for breakfast, brains for brunch. Brains for every single meal; why can't we have some GUTS?"-Misfits

1.0 ball python- Azazel
0.0.1 Yellow phase ATB- Devilin Hisseyes
0.4 leos- Boji, Sanjae, Fae, Azra
1.1.5 crested geckos- Jubeh and Inari and the babies
1.1 gargoyle geckos- Acacia, and Osiris
0.0.1 flying gecko- Malarchie
1.0 leucistic texas ratsnake-Ojo
0.1 albino kenyan sand boa- Akasha
1.1 whites tree frogs- Sifaka and Eikon
0.1 Transpecos ratsnake- Cleo
0.1.2 Senegal chameleons- Ambaji and the hatchlings
1.0 Ruthven's X Thaeri king- Kemushi
0.2 pacific parrolets- Mishka and Kya
1.1 cats- Cairo and Oberon
1.0 crown tail betta- Lazarus
1.0 Husband (hes my favorite, but i dont let the 'kids' know that. )